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Saturday, 4 February 2012

Every boy wants a lion.... because boys just love to roar!

When I found a ball of yellow cotton, I knew at once that I would be making a lion because the boy kept running off with Nana Bunny Rabbit and Papa Sanchez was NOT happy about his little man playing with a pink floppy bunny and kept nagging me to make a 'manly' toy. After seeing a photo of Leone Tremblay on the Hobby Uncinetto blog (there are so many amazing patterns on that site!), I just had to make a lion with cute cheek pouches too.

Whilst loving crochet, I am so lazy when it comes to stitching the body parts together, so I wanted to try a technique of attaching as many pieces as possible by holding them at the front of the work and crocheting through both them and the working piece. In order to follow this pattern you will have to start by making the tail, one leg and then continue from the second leg up the body and through to the top of the head.

As this is a toy, the thickness of yarn and tension are not important. Just remember that the chunkier the yarn, the bigger the finished size of the toy. Make sure to use a hook size that will give you a tight finish to ensure the stuffing doesn't show through stitches. I used 100g of a yellow cotton that knits to 4mm needles, and a 3.5mm crochet hook and my lion measures 33.5cm from head to foot. I used 12mm safety eyes.

I have worked hard creating my original patterns and am happy for
them to be used for free. Please do not sell the patterns. If you do
sell the end products please state clearly that they were made using my
design, and that the pattern came from
www.craftymamasanchez.blogspot.com. Thanks, and enjoy!

What you'll need:

Yarns in yellow, brown, black and cream

Crochet hook

Yarn needle

Polyester toy stuffing

2 safety eyes (optional). These plastic eyes that can be bought in a number of sizes really add to the professional finish of your toy. Make sure to insert them securely. If you are giving the toy to a baby, you may prefer to embroider the eyes.

Techniques used (UK terminology):

ch: chain

dc:double crochet (US single crochet)

slst: slip stitch

inc:work 2 dc into next stitch

dec. You can use dc2tog, double crochet 2 together: insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (2 loops on hook), insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (3
loops on hook), yarn over and draw through all 3 loops on hook. If you prefer to use invDec, invisible decrease: then hook through front loop only of next two stitches, yarn over, draw through loop (3loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 2 loops (2 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through both loops on hook

front loop only

working in continuous rounds. Unless otherwise stated, all parts of toy are worked in continuous rounds

working in rows

working rounds by joining

Tail

Round 1: With brown, ch 2 and work 4 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 4 dc into a magic circle) [4]Round 2: (1 dc, inc) x 2 [6]Rounds 3-4: Work 2 rounds without shaping [6]Round 5: (2 dc, inc) x 2 [8]Round 6: (2 dc, dec) x 2 [6]
Change to yellow and work 25 rows without shaping. This will give a tail reaching halfway down the foot (the white part of the leg). If you prefer, work the first leg, then work the tail the length you want it against the leg and add 5 rows.

Stuff both legs, fold working leg in half and crochet 8 stitches through, chain 2 then fold second leg in half and crochet 8 stitches through. Now, resume working in the round:

Round 1: Work 18 stitches through front loops only. Turn work so that the unworked back loops are at the front of the work and work these 18 stitches. [36]Round 2: (5 dc, inc) x 6 [42]Round 3: (6 dc, inc) x 6 [48]Rounds 4-6: Work 3 rounds without shaping [48]

Attach the tail in the next row, between the legs. Fold the tail in half and hold at front of work. Work 2 stitches through 2 layers of tail and 1 layer of the body

Stuff, fold in half and crochet 6 stitches through both sides. Sew to either side of neck.

Nose

The nose is worked in rounds, but not continuous rounds as for the rest of the toy. At the end of a round, join to the first stitch of the round with a slip stitch, ch1 then start the next round in the top of the slip stitch

Round 1: With black, ch 2 and work 8 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 8 dc into a magic circle), join, ch1 [8]Round 2: 3 dc in first stitch, dc in next 2 stitches, 3 dc in each of next 2 stitches, dc in next 2 stitches, 3 dc in last stitch, join, ch1 [16]Round 3: 3 dc in first stitch, dc in next 6 stitches, 3 dc in each of next 2 stitches, dc in next 6 stitches, 3 dc in last stitch, join and fasten off [24]

Each ear is made by making a cream semi-circle, then a yellow semi-circle which is joined to the cream one by placing the cream one behind it and working the final row through both pieces. Semi-circles are worked in rows, not continuous rounds. Do not count the turning chain as a stitch.

I certainly am on Ravelry as 'Crafty Mama Sanchez'.... I wanted him to have really dangly legs but there have been complaints about this. You may want to make an arm first then a leg so you can get them in the proprtion you'd like. Enjoy!

OMG... I LOOOOOOOVE THIS! I wanna make one for me, even tho I'm female... but I'm a leo... so I love lions! Plus.... it looks just like my old childhood toy.... Awesome! And thank you SO much for sharing for FREE, that's just a double bonus! You rock! (PS... off to check you on Ravelry too!) :)

You're welcome! I've received some feedback that the legs turn out longer than some people would like so try working one round less in each straight section if you want the legs to be less dangly.... Enjoy! My little boy loves his :-)